


There's a place around my heart

by seratonation



Series: Family is Relative [3]
Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Bedtime Stories, Cuddles, Gen, M/M, Super-Family, Super-Husbands
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-07
Updated: 2012-06-07
Packaged: 2017-11-07 04:12:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/426794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seratonation/pseuds/seratonation
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve catches Tony putting Peter to sleep.</p>
            </blockquote>





	There's a place around my heart

**Author's Note:**

> This started as a picture prompt fic and then diverged too much, but it basically started with how baby Peter was fascinated by the glowy thing on Tony's chest.
> 
> I think it's safe to say this won't be a linear series, it's all timey-wimey. Title from Clean by Scarlett Johansson and Pete Yorn.

Steve didn't sleep as much as Tony. In fact, Steve didn’t sleep as much as anyone. Two and a half years later and it still feels like he’ll never sleep again. He does, sometime, of course. He was human after all. 

In comparison, Tony seemed to have no sleep schedule at all. He’d stay up for days on end, with nothing more than a few catnaps here and there, or he might sleep for hours, well past noon. It all depended on what projects he was working on and what levels of completion they were in. 

Now that Peter was involved though, they had to make some changes. A baby needed a schedule, needed to be changed and fed and put to sleep on time, or else everything went to hell. 

It usually fell to Steve to put him to sleep at the end of the night. Tony tended to lose track of time when he was in the lab, and trying to extract him was like pulling teeth. One night though, Steve came in to find Tony lying in bed, with Peter sitting on his stomach, poking at the reactor in Tony’s chest. He hesitated in the doorway, not wanting to interrupt the moment.

“Aunty Pepper said it’s proof that I have a heart,” Tony said, “and as long as it glows it means I’ll be there to protect you.”

Peter smiled and banged his little hands on Tony’s chest, and Tony laughed. “Yeah, I guess your other dad will be there too, he’s a lot more reliable.” 

Tony took Peters hands in his own. “I’m serious though, this thing,” he tapped at the reactor himself, “it glows for you, you’re too young to understand that now, but maybe when you’re older it’ll make more sense.”

Peter tapped at the reactor again and then threw himself at Tony’s chest. “Oof, hey little guy, is that comfy for you?” Tony said, lifting a hand up to stroke Peter’s back. 

“I guess so,” he said, when Peter didn't move to get up, “I guess Steve tells you a bedtime story huh? I don’t know any of those, but I can tell you the one about the prince and the soldier.”

“That’s my favourite one,” Steve said from the doorway. 

Tony looked up. “How long have you been standing there?” 

“Not long,” he said, and slid into the bed beside his family, “I hope your story has a happy ending.”

Tony smiled, and shook Peters hands, tightly curled around his finger, even though Peter was fast asleep by now. “I think it does.”


End file.
